Iridium and SKYWAVE partner to expand global industrial IoT for heavy equipment

Iridium Communications Inc. announced a strategic partnership with SKYWAVE, an ORBCOMM company, to combine SKYWAVE’s intelligent network‑orchestration platform with Iridium’s pole‑to‑pole low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) satellite network and Short Burst Data (SBD) service. The integration, already under way, embeds Iridium SBD directly into SKYWAVE satellite IoT terminals, giving heavy‑equipment original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) a flexible solution that spans satellite, cellular and Wi‑Fi networks.

The joint offering targets improved equipment uptime, remote monitoring, diagnostics, predictive maintenance and service support, helping OEMs modernize legacy deployments and deliver consistent customer experiences in remote or disconnected locations. While the initial focus is on heavy‑equipment makers, the architecture is designed to support other industrial sectors operating globally where terrestrial networks are unavailable. Iridium CEO Matt Desch said the partnership will bring Iridium’s global LEO capabilities to “the most demanding industrial IoT customers,” and ORBCOMM CEO Sameer Agrawal highlighted the combined solution’s resilience and scalability.